Ivanka Had Japanese Biz Deal Going When She Joined Dad’s Meeting With PM

Ivanka Trump was reportedly finalizing a deal with a Japanese clothing manufacturer whose parent company’s largest shareholder is a state-owned Japanese bank when she sat in on her father’s meeting with the Japanese prime minister in November.

When Donald Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Nov. 17, his first such meeting with a foreign leader as president-elect, Ivanka Trump’s fashion company was holding a private viewing of her products in Japan, a small part in a deal two years in the making, the New York Times reported Sunday.

Ivanka Trump is expected to reach a licensing deal with the Japanese apparel company Sanei International, whose parent company has as a majority shareholder the Development Bank of Japan, which is owned by the Japanese government, according to the Times report.

On Wednesday, in a series of tweets, Trump said he would leave his business to his children during his presidency, and that he would be holding a news conference on Dec. 15 to discuss how he would take himself “completely” out of his business operations.

Richard Painter, George W. Bush’s White House ethics lawyer from 2005 – 2007, suggested Friday that the Electoral College should refuse to vote for Trump if he does not divest completely from his business, saying that Trump assets, including the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., could violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prevents the government officials from taking payments from foreign governments.